Review of Timbuktu (2014) by Rob S — 11 Aug 2015

At the opening of the film it seems like it will be a movie with good commentary on jihadists enforcing their law on their territory. Instead, we get a story which primarily focuses on a herder and his family dealing with the fact that one of their cows was killed by a fisherman neighbor of theirs. The man's reaction to the death of his cow named GPS (it is never explained why they name it GPS by the way) is what sets up the main plot of the film.

This was in my watchlist since it was an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film of 2014. I can see that it was filmed well, but I cannot judge if it was among the best 5 movies outside of the US since I cannot see most foreign language films each year. I could see how it could be considered for this award with its good cinematography and acting, but the story really just did not captivate me.

We have a strange subplot which shows that one of the superior jihadists is fond of the protagonist's wife, and therefore does not enforce laws strictly on her family. He makes a decision based on the protagonist's actions, however, and he tells the wife he cannot look the other way anymore. This moment seemed to be the climax of the film with where it was placed in relation to other "act 3" events, and if it was supposed to be the climax it did not do a terrific job of it.

The film then ends pretty abruptly with an action which is not very well-explained, and it ties back to the opening shot of the film which I usually love, but it just didn't do it for me this time. The film has an interesting message, but I could not relate to any characters which made me care less for the film.